Forensic analysis of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT): implementation of a screening and confirmatory analysis concept is hampered by the lack of CDT isoform standards

The aim of the study was to test combinations of commercially available carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) assays for their usefulness as screening and confirmatory CDT analysis systems. A set of 292 serum samples from routine CDT analysis was analyzed by two assays based on anion-exchanger microcolumn CDT and non-CDT fractionation followed by a turbidimetric immunoassay (ChronAlcoI.D. and %CDT TIA) and a high-performance liquid chromatography with on-line sample preparation (ClinRep CDT on-line). The CDT analysis results were divided into four groups based on the test-specific borderlines of the compared methods: NN with negative CDT results by both tests, PN with positive screening but negative confirmation results, NP with negative screening and positive confirmation results, and PP with positive results by both tests. Regardless of the test combination and whether applying the lower or upper limits of the borderlines, approximately one-third of contradictory (positive screening and negative confirmation or vice versa corresponding to groups PN and NP) were obtained. This was not due to analytical outliers (only 6 of 292 serum samples). Indeed, parametric and non-parametric ANOVA analysis pointed to different calibrations and/or recoveries of the three CDT assays. Our data give again evidence for the urgent need of an international CDT isoform standard material. At this time, we cannot recommend a combination of the three tests for screening and confirmatory analysis in forensic CDT testing.     

The puzzle of manual harvest in Uzbekistan: economics,status and labour in the Khrushchev era

Uzbekistan has attracted international criticism for its use of child labour, defined as labour performed by youth under the Soviet legal limit of 16, to harvest cotton by hand. This article argues that manual labour, mostly performed by low-status children and women, became entrenched in Central Asian agriculture during the 1950s, and investigates the possible reasons for its persistence in the face of global trends to the contrary. The timing is a puzzle, because the 1950s were when mechanization of agriculture became a global development goal. The USSR participated in the mechanization trend. To understand better the roots of rural labour patterns in the Khrushchev period, we must consider how economic incentives and disincentives, gender relations, demographics, and state policy worked together.     

Negative Capital and the Wealth of Nations

The so-called global economy has generated tremendous international wealth inequality that only increases as globalization deepens. This process is capped by the failure of classical economic theory to incorporate such free market externalities as negative capital . Negative capital can be defined as situations, events, or environmental conditions that degrade or threaten to degrade the standard of living or life expectancy of great numbers of persons, including those living in wealthy nations. These problems cut across issues of sovereignty and security, economic development, and the environment. They can be monetized and have value because the rich will have to pay in order to mitigate them, whether at home or abroad. Payment can take many forms, but it will involve a politics of redistribution. Negative capital is a systemic phenomenon "in nature" without which the classical economic theory is both incomplete and notably ideological. A tamed and therefore enlightened free market, that recognizes and addresses negative capital, may be better equipped to resolve the situations created by its inherent inadequacies.     

Leadership Style, Regime Type, and Foreign Policy Crisis Behavior: A Contingent Monadic Peace?

While a substantial body of theory suggests that democracies should behave peacefully toward all states (monadically), most empirical evidence indicates they are only pacific in their relations with fellow democracies (dyadically). A new theoretical synthesis suggests that the missing link between democratic constraints and pacific monadic behavior is leaders' perceptions of, and responses to, these constraints. Research on political leadership indicates that, contrary to conventional wisdom, leaders respond in systematically different ways to domestic constraints: "constraint respecters" internalize constraints in their environments, while "constraint challengers" view such constraints as obstacles to be surmounted. An analysis of 154 foreign policy crises provides strong support for this contingent monadic thesis: democracies led by constraint respecters stand out as extraordinarily pacific in their crisis responses, while democracies led by constraint challengers and autocracies led by both types of leaders are demonstrably more aggressive.     

Assaults in the elderly--a population-based study with victim and perpetrator characteristics

The aim of the present epidemiological study was to investigate characteristics of assaults in the elderly aged 65 years and above from the perspective of the victim and perpetrator. This population-based study included 23,142 assaults (according to §§ 224/226 StGB of German criminal law) that were recorded in Bavaria, Germany, from 1999 to 2005. The population-based ratio of serious crimes of battery for the elderly in comparison with the reference population was markedly lower (0.10; 95% CI: 0.09-0.11) in suspects aged more than 65 years and 0.08 (95% CI: 0.07-0.09) for the injured above 65 years. Elderly perpetrators differed significantly concerning the manner of the assault (p < 0.001). They committed less crimes in urban areas (56.1% vs. 68.8%) and were victimized significantly more in rural areas (p < 0.001; 41.2% vs. 30.2%). Violence in the elderly differs from that of the younger population. Further research is warranted to establish prevention measures.     

Risk for Partner Victimization and Marital Dissatisfaction Among Chronically Depressed Patients

The link between marital dysfunction and depressive symptoms has been well established, but the link between partner violence and depressive symptoms is less clear. Further, little is known about partner violence and marital satisfaction in chronically depressed patients. In this multi-site treatment sample of chronically depressed patients (N = 316), approximately 17% of men and 12% of women reported experiencing physical victimization from their partner in the past year. However, physical victimization was not associated with the severity of depression for men or women. Cross-sectional path analyses indicated that depressive symptoms predicted marital dissatisfaction, which in turn, predicted psychological victimization. Further, psychological victimization predicted physical victimization. With chronically depressed individuals, interventions that address both depression and marital dissatisfaction may prevent psychological and physical victimization.     

Prevalence of mental disorders among sexual offenders in forensic psychiatry and prison

The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of mental disorders among sexual offenders in forensic psychiatry (SF) with the prevalence of such disorders among sexual offenders in prison (SP) and violent offenders in prison (VP). In a cross-sectional study, 40 of 47 SF detained in forensic psychiatry in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, could be included. They were compared with 30 SP and 26 VP. All study participants were interviewed by means of SCID I and SCID II and assessments of functioning (GAF, BSS). There was a high prevalence of mental disorders (DSM-IV: Axis I) in all three groups (SF: 80%, SP: 63%, VP: 73%). Among SP and VP, this was attributed mainly to substance use disorders. The prevalence and comorbidity of personality disorders was significantly higher in the group of the SF (prevalence: SF: 85%, SP: 27%, VP: 39%). In a psychopathological view, SP were all together more similar to the imprisoned non-sexual delinquent VP than to the SF.